Sharman Stone (Murray, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Immigration and Citizenship) Share this | Hansard source

I want to talk about the problems that this government has created for communities like mine in northern Victoria. We are experiencing our seventh year of drought. I cannot blame Labor for that, but I can blame it for failing to respond to the exceptional circumstances that our regional communities face. When in government, we in the coalition understood that, when you have an extraordinary natural disaster such as seven years of drought, you have to make sure you help the food producers—the dairy farmers and fruit producers—survive that drought in order that they can go on generating the billions of dollars at the farm gate that they do, and the employment that they provide. The multiplier effects of food production are extraordinary. They go to the transport sector and salaried people in the manufacturing industries. We are now staring down the barrel of both community contraction and enormous regional economic stress. Why? Because this government does not seem to understand, or perhaps it just does not care about, what is going on beyond the tram tracks of Melbourne or the congestion of Sydney.

For example, we have heard in the last 24 hours that the European Union is to give €460 million to its dairy sector, which, of course, is still suffering extraordinary below-costs-of-production prices as a result of the contraction of credit, which itself is a result of the global financial crisis. What has the Australian government provided for its dairy industry? Absolutely nothing. We have seen the government bail out the automotive sector—and internationally owned manufacturers of motor vehicles—who have been struggling for years, of course. They have bailed out the retail sector. They have also been very sympathetic to the textiles, clothing and footwear industry. I have again and again presented to the government the disaster that is now confronting the dairy industry in Australia, only to be told, ‘Yes, it is serious.’ The Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry, Mr Burke, says, ‘Oh, yes, I understand exactly how disastrous this is but, no, we’re not going to help you.’ I have to say that is unconscionable. How can the Labor government pretend to govern for all people when that is the situation?

There has also just been an announcement of $300 million, over three rounds, for on-farm water use efficiency. You would think that there would be some way that my irrigators could access these funds to put in things like subsurface irrigation, which will reduce water use by perhaps 50 per cent in some areas but increase productivity. No, my farmers and those from the electorate of my colleague the member for Mallee cannot apply for these grants unless they have what is called a ‘delivery partner’. This delivery partner has to be some institution or agency that will charge them a management fee for their application or use of the grant. If they are lucky enough to get one, they will see an extraordinary creaming off to some other agency of what the grant should in fact be providing them. The agencies that this government recommends should be delivery partners for these grants are typically state owned authorities, like the catchment management authorities in Victoria, which are renowned for things other than actually knowing anything about on-farm irrigation technologies.

These grants are a farce. When they are so desperate for investment in technology on their farms, which might help them to survive this drought, you cannot imagine how distressed my irrigators are when they get this $300 million—a paltry sum after all—put in front of them and find when they read the fine print that there is no way they can apply. I have been besieged in my office by my farmers, whether they are fruit growers or dairy farmers, telling me that they have contacted the relevant agencies and have simply been told, ‘Go away. You can’t apply as individuals or as a cooperative of farmers; you have to work through some other agency.’ Some other agency says, ‘It’s too hard; we’re not going to bother,’ and so the farce continues.

How can the government do nothing for rural and regional Australia? They have destroyed the opportunities for country students to go to university by destroying the independent Youth Allowance. They have destroyed the opportunities for people to move onto further ongoing support while this drought continues. These farmers have been told, ‘Exceptional circumstances support finishes next year. After that we’ll think about how you might respond to climate change. We don’t know how we’ll do that yet, but you are not going to get ongoing exceptional circumstances support.’ That money puts food on the table of my farmers. That is the only money most of them have coming into their households. I am sorry, but it is not a joke; it is what our farmers depend upon and it is to be taken away. (Time expired)

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